There can be no more beautiful phrase then that which Jesus uttered and which Luke dutifully recorded in the nineteenth chapter of his Gospel – “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
In one brief sentence, Jesus summed up his entire reason for being on earth; his mission was to look for, to find, and to save the lost. No wonder he spent so much time with sinners and unwanted persons. Throughout his ministry, Jesus was called to task time and time again by the Pharisees, the Saducees, and the Biblically-literate elite. And for what cause? Because he repeatedly violated the letter of the law in eating with sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes, in healing the sick and diseased and demon-possessed on the Sabbath, in not washing his hands before eating to make a point.
All these “violations” were, in fact, Jesus’ way to make his point… he had come to seek and to save that which was lost and the only way to do that was to put aside the legalism of the day and show them what true love and forgiveness was.
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A friend pointed something disturbing (and something I’ve NEVER seen before) in a parable Jesus told about pounds.
Essentially, a nobleman decided to go away to claim a kingdom. Before he left, he charged ten of his servants to occupy until he returned, giving each ten pounds. Apparently, the citizens of his new kingdom didn’t care too much for this nobleman and sent a message letting him know they would not have him reign over them.
After the nobleman returned, having secured his kingdom, he called his servants to see how much they had gained by trading. The first one had gained ten pounds on the one and the nobleman put him in charge of ten cities with deepest thanks because he had been faithful in a little. The second servant had gained five pounds and the nobleman put him in charge of five cities. When the third servant approached, he returned the original pound wrapped up in a napkin and accompanied by protestations of fear of the nobleman.
The nobleman takes the pound away from that servant and gave it to the one who had ten, not heeding the protestations of others who pointed out that the guy already had ten pounds.
The tragic part of this parable – the part I’d never seen before – relates to the remaining servants. What happened to them? There were seven more, yet they are not even given a passing nod or mention. I’m not sure what happened to them, but it is tragic that they are never mentioned again, having fallen out during the wait.
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God does not condemn increase of wealth. As a matter of fact, He encourages it throughout the Bible. It should be noted that the increase of wealth God encourages must have the correct reason for being gathered and that the heart of the gatherer must be to-Godward.
In Proverbs 13, the point is made that wealth accumulated by vanity or non-meaningful ways will be diminished, but it is the gathering made by one who labors that will increase.
God blesses labor and honest work of man’s hands and brings to nought and confounds the vain increase of those whose hearts are not right toward Him.
